Registration now open for the 2016 Great American Cleanup and Don’t mess with Texas® Trash-Off

Community Reports

Published 2:00 am, Friday, February 12, 2016

Keep America Beautiful’s Great American Cleanup (GAC) is the nation’s largest community improvement program, taking place annually from March 1 through May 31. Activities can include beautifying parks and recreation areas, cleaning waterways, handling recycling collections, picking up litter, removing graffiti, planting trees and conducting educational programs and litter-free events — anything that keeps communities beautiful.

The Don’t mess with Texas Trash-Off (DMWTTO) serves as Texas’ signature event for the Great American Cleanup. The 2016 Don’t mess with Texas Trash-Off is scheduled for Saturday, April 9. The Don’t mess with Texas Trash-Off is a partnership between Keep Texas Beautiful and the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT).

Any Texan can participate! Online registration is now available at www.ktb.org for local organizations to schedule events in their communities and gain access to valuable resources to plan, promote and host an event. Participants are encouraged to register their GAC and DMWTTO events with Keep Texas Beautiful in order to receive trash bags, volunteer giveaways, promotional items and more to assist in facilitating cleanup events. Participants may also elect to post event information on the Keep Texas Beautiful (KTB) event calendar. KTB will be leading individuals and community groups looking to volunteer to the KTB event calendar to find an opportunity in their area.

In 2015, 1,500 Great American Cleanup events were held in Texas, with 85,516 volunteers contributing 401,925 hours. More than 10 million pounds of waste and recyclables was collected in all.

Also in 2015, 235 Don’t mess with Texas Trash-Off events were held across the state, featuring 27,848 volunteers. All told, 3,709 miles of highway were cleared of litter and debris, totaling 1.4 million pounds of trash.